Getting too close to home

BBC finally noticed we have a flu epidemic here in Ukraine. Their website reports:
255,000 cases of flu and acute respiratory problems have been registered among the 46m population. 15,000 have been hospitalised. The World Health Organisation says there is no evidence to suggest that Ukraine had a bad outbreak of swine flu, but it has agreed to send a team there to help the country cope.

Since not every person is tested and many cases are reported as "Acute respiratory disease" it is hard to say how many are A/H1N1, regular seasonal flu gotten out of hand or pneumonia. People are home treating until it is too late in many cases. As in the situation below reported by MIGNews:

Swine flu was confirmed in Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky (Kyiv Oblast). In particular, the chief sanitary doctor of the Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky district Ivan Bryl said that the virology laboratory of the regional sanitary and epidemiological station gave a positive result for the virus H1N1.

"The sick man - a man at the age of 59 in very grave condition. He has been in hospital with medical ventilation apparatus from this Sunday. The man fell ill on October 19. He had fever up to 38 degrees but did not go to hospital. On 24 October, his temperature rose to 40 degrees. The patient asked medical care only on October 27, and on October 30 he was transferred to intensive care department ".

The doctor also said that relatives and friends of ill person are healthy. "We tested those who contacted the patient. His family, wife and mother are healthy. His friends and acquaintances are also healthy" - he said.

The doctor has no information, where a man could become infected with swine influenza. According to him, the patient is a native of Pereyaslav-Khmelnitsky district, and has no recent contacts with the residents of Western Ukraine.

The report did not include that he was a heavy smoker and thus at extreme risk for exactly what happened.

This is our good friend Sasha, whom I have known for over 14 years. He is one of the best interpreters I ever worked with, who spoke fluent "cow" and was familiar with Canadian livestock production, having been several times to Canada, including Agribition back in the late 1990's. We got a phone call from another friend notifying us just before I found it on the web. He is "stabilized" according to latest reports from our friends in P-K.

All we can do now is pray and hope for the best.